The eComStation Desktop

People who are not familiar with eComStation are mostly interested in how this operating
system looks like and ask if is has a graphical user interface like Windows...

The answer to this is both simple and complex: yes, eCS absolutely has a graphical user
interface, called "Desktop", but it surpasses by far other user interfaces like Windows or the
various window managers from Linux. Consider usability, flexibility and not to forget the
intuitive usage. But just these terms make it difficult to explain to people that have never
used it or just learn to know it.

...is the name of the graphical desktop for OS/2 and eComStation. The WorkPlace Shell, or
in short WPS, is a graphical and completely object-oriented interface which gives the user
access to the whole system, the data files, storage and all connected peripherals on the
computer.

As the above picture shows, the WPS uses icons to represent folders and various other
objects on the desktop. The WPS also features a standard task bar, which is called the eCenter within eComStation. Moreover, a lot of other familiar objects are visible, like the
Trashcan, Local Network, Programs and so on.

eComStation uses folders to logically arrange all objects you like to work with (data files,
programs, etc.). The user decides which objects should be put in which folder. In principal,
it doesn't really matter which name you assign to a folder or any other object. In contrast to
Windows, eComStation is not limiting you in any respect in this (just use the '\' character in
an object name if you like).

(Click for larger image)

eComStation is also very flexible in the way of showing folders. As you can see in the
accompanying pictures, the content can be shown in three different ways, namely: Icon
View, Tree View and Details View.
A folder can be displayed in one or more views simultaneously. The enormous flexibility
which it provides doesn't bring a need for a file manager in eCS, like the Windows Explorer,
to administer your data files.
Furthermore it is important to point out that folders in eCS are actually WPS
objects, which
means that they are all working in a similar way (same class), but also notice that the
settings per folder can still be different.
For each folder individually you can define how its contents should be displayed, how
the icons should be arranged, which background a folder should have, etc.

With the eCenter you get access to all the applications and data files on the hard
disks, CDROMs, etc., just by one mouse click. The so called trays makes it easy to
organize your applications into logical groups, by which you never need more
then two clicks to start whatever program.
In addition the eCenter contains a number of handy monitors which give you an
insight of the CPU usage, the free disk space on the hard disk, TCP/IP traffic, the
time and date, etc.

eCS contains also a so called Launchpad as an alternative task bar, which you can use to
launch applications or to access your data files. The eComStation (and OS/2) Launchpad
resembles closely the 'Dock', which Apple introduced with MacOS X!

Already since 1996, long before "Internet" was a 'buzz word' for other operating systems,
OS/2 has a number of advanced options which can be described as 'desktop integrated
Internet'.
Especially eCS's URL objects make it easy to maintain and access all kinds of locations on
the Internet, like Websites, FTP hosts, but also audio channels directly from your desktop.
For instance you can easily create and maintain Bookmarks in folders on your Desktop,
without the need of starting up the browser. eComStation offers these possibilities standard
on the Desktop of course.